Tag Archives: History

“I remember the doll my cousins and I played with at our maternal grand parents’ home. Mother and her sisters learned to sew at an early age. They made their clothing and with the leftover scraps made doll clothes, also quilt patches and rag rugs. There was only one doll left by the time my cousins and I arrived on the “scene,” and it had a fabulous wardrobe. There was also a doll size three drawer dresser and hump back trunk for storage. That doll was dressed for all occasions church, trips, parties and anywhere else our imagination took us. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a head. The china head had been broken and someone had patched the hole so the stuffings didn’t run out. Lack of a head didn’t slow down her social life one bit, we hardly missed it except when there was a matching bonnet for one of the many dresses.”

My mother, with no small amount of foresight, asked her mother to write down stories she remembered from her life. Stories that the rest of us might enjoy having around. Well, my grandmother died in March. It was hard to talk to my mom and my brothers about it because I wasn’t just sad that my grandma (the apple-pie grandma) had passed, but also because the loss of your last living grandparent reflects somewhat on your own mortality.

Imagine my surprise when this image showed up in an email from my mother. It turns out that my grandma had filled out a great many journals with little tidbits that she remembered. Since she was not functioning at 100% for a while before she passed, both physically and mentally, these treasures mean that much more. When I last saw my grandma, she had a tendency to repeat herself, check the mail several times after she’d already gotten it, and drop off in the middle of sentences. Reading this reminds me of the joyous, witty woman that my grandmother had been.

And no, even though my mother has been sending me typed translations to accompany the difficult to read handwriting, I’m not going to do that for you. I haven’t looked at the Courier New versions and I don’t think you should either. Betty is far more present in her sometimes illegible script than she is in a serif font.